August 16, 20169 yr My name is Matt and I'm from Long Beach, CA. Very new to blacksmithing but I have lots of experience working metal in my home machine shop. I recently acquired a 200 lb anvil and I built a brake drum forge. My first projects will probably be some simple tools such as punch & drifts as well as tongs. Here are a couple pictures of the anvil and my forge during construction. And No, that is not the hammer I plan on using...it was just for staging the photo.
August 16, 20169 yr Nothing wrong with using that hammer. The forge looks too deep to me. Rotors work much better. Check out the solid fuel forge section of the forums. At a minimum you will want to cut a couple of slots so you can get to the middle of a longer bar, and have your piece lay flat in the fire instead of tipped down into it.
August 17, 20169 yr Author I created a conical bed of a refractory inside the brake drum to reduce the depth. I agree that I might need to cut a couple slots in the side for longer work. I guess that'll depend on what I'm working on. Thanks for the suggestion! Matt
March 7, 20179 yr Author Recently I've added a coal tray of about 2 ft square around the brake drum which allows supporting longer workpieces, more coal to coke up, and I can pile the hot coals much deeper. So far it's worked out very well. And today I found the name Peter Wright in the side of the anvil. Matt
March 8, 20179 yr That looks great, man! I'm wishing I had a house instead of an apartment with this newfound hobby.
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